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Cycling News Flash for July 19, 2005

Australian team rider Amy Gillett dead after crash

Australian rider Amy Gillett has died after she and five other riders
from the Australian women's team were hit by a car during a training ride
in Germany on Monday. Three other team members are reported to be in critical
condition after being helicoptered to hospital, and the remaining two
are also still in hospital, albeit with less serious injuries. The other
riders involved are Katie Brown, Lorian Graham, Kate Nichols, Alexis Rhodes
and Louise Yaxley. All are being treated in hospitals in Leipzig and Zwickau;
Rhodes, Yaxley and Brown are believed to be the most seriously injured.

The team was riding along the Landstrasse between Zeulenroda and Auma
(Kreis Greiz), reconnoitering the course of the opening time trial of
the Thueringen Rundfahrt stage race which was scheduled to start today.
A car driven by an 18-year woman skidded off the right hand side of the
road and overcorrected getting back onto the tarmac. The driver, who had
passed her test just four weeks before, apparently lost control of the
car and crossed into the lane where the team was riding, hitting all six
riders.

The first stage of the Thueringen Rundfahrt has been cancelled. A service
of commemoration will be held instead.

Many of the riders involved in the crash - particularly Alexis Rhodes,
Kate Nichols, and Katie Brown - are protégés of Australian
junior team coach Gary Sutton who is already involved in arranging for
the families of injured riders to travel to Germany to be with their loved
ones.

Clearly shaken by the news, which has shocked the closely-knit Australian
cycling community, Sutton did not want to talk at length about the tragedy,
but did say, "You're never prepared for something like this. Amy
was such a lovely person. This is going to have an enormous effect on
everyone who knew her."

Australian prime minister John Howard has expressed his sympathy for
Amy Gillett's family and the families of the injured riders, according
to AAP. "I would like to express my great sadness about the
terrible accident which has affected the Australian women's cycling team
in Germany," Mr Howard said in Washington.

"It's one of those awful tragedies. On an occasion like this when
an accident occurs overseas, it's always I guess in a starker situation
and the shock is greater," he said.

"I extend my condolences and sincere thoughts to all of those who
have been affected."

Born Amy Safe in Adelaide, South Australia on January 9, 1976, Amy Gillett
was a succesful rower, representing Australia in the women's eight at
Atlanta in 1996. She was not selected for the 2000 Games rowing team,
and so turned to cycling. Winning the 2002 national pursuit championship,
she progressed rapidly and concentrated on the track World Cup series
in 2002 and 2003, before shifting focus to the road in 2004.

Amy Gillett was married to her former rowing coach Simon and was studying
for a PhD. In her personal
bio in the AIS women's
team diary on Cyclingnews, she listed her ambitions for 2005 as "To
master the art of time trialling, actually commence my PhD, and most importantly
to give my husband plenty of loving."

Everyone at Cyclingnews sends our condolences to Amy's family
and friends.

Cycling Australia has also established an email link for people who wish
to send condolence messages to the family of Amy Gillett or to pass on
their thoughts and wishes to those injured. Go to Cycling Australia's
web site
and follow the link on the home page.

Photography

A wooden cross and flowers
mark the site of an accident where one of Australia's top female cyclists, Amy Gillett, was killed and her five national teammates were seriously injured when a car ploughed into them as they trained for the Thueringen Rundfahrt.